Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v1.c38: Chapter LXV.

Vāstu-śāstra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v1.c38

Language: English

Chapter LXV.

The very first line of this chapter designates these Prāsādas as Vāvāṭa Prāsādas and they are as many as twelve in number (see Part V). The word Vāvāṭa or more correctly Vairāṭa is of controversial nature among contemporary works on Hindu Temple. I have tried to critically examine their views and adding my own, under the chapter 'Styles'. Here it is enough to indicate that this is one of the regional styles developed somewhere in the vicinity of the modern Rajaputana and Gujarata and it might be a mixed style. But Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra epitomising all the prevalent styles with various ramifications into the manifold temple types, might be coining the terminology of some of the architectural evolutions as "Vairat has no place in the Sanskrit accounts of ancient Indian Geography" and Raja Bhoja must have coined this word to complete the triad by Vairāṭa (in place of Vesara) as the name of style called Vasara (so much talked in the contemporary discussions) does not occur in the Samarāṅgaṇa-Sūtradhāra. The Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra describes these Vāvāṭa temples similar in plan to Nāgara temples. The component parts together with the super structnre do not fit in with the existing monuments of the Nāgara temples. Hence they represent a mixed style.

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CHAPTER LXVI.

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Bhūmija Prāsāda

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These are the pompous buildings, rich in architecural craftsman-ship and representing an amalgamation of both Nāgara and Drāviḍa architecture (see Study, 'The Styles and Classifications'.) They are described in three groups of fourfold Square styles ; seven-fold Vṛkṣajātikas and fivefold Aṣṭaśāla varieties (see Classification Part V).

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The important element in the construction of these is the exhuberance of Rekhās, as many as twenty five (see Glossary) of the decorative motifs (imitated from the Nāgara and the Lāṭa Styles). The Aparājita-pracchā develops this fascinating elements of Temple Architecture into still further varieties.

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B. Maṇḍapas : Pavilions attached to the temples.

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CHAPTER LXVII. Maṇḍapalakṣaṇa—The Pavilions.

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CHAPTER LXVIII. Saptaviṁśatimaṇḍapa—27 Pavilions.

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The import of the word, its different and divergent uses together with their architectural features, layouts, proportionate measurements and other details have been examined in a separate chapter (see Part V, Maṇḍapa). Here in these two chapters two broad types of Maṇḍapas have been described quite distinctly. In the former one are described the eight-fold varieties of Maṇḍapas, viz. Bhadra, Maṇḍana, Mahendra, Vardhamāna, Svastika, Sarvatobhadraka, Mahāpadma and Gṛharāja. These are characteristics of the varieties of proportions, otherwise they go after the Prāsādas, the main temples. The traditions still remind us that in some of the illustrations found in the monuments (Bhuvaneśvar) it is difficult to account for the distinguishing features of Maṇḍapas on the one side and the temples proper on the other. These eight Maṇḍapas are the representative proto-types of this traditional type in the art.

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The second variety of the 27 Maṇḍapas, however, is not so unhelpful. The distinctive features of the Maṇḍapa architecture here is the abundant application of the columns and it is as if turning them into Hall-like structures (vide Hall-temples of 49 chapter). In the Matsya-Purāṇa, the 27 Maṇḍapas are distinguished according to the number of the columns, they are furnished with, the largest number being 64. The names and the chief features of these 27 Maṇḍapas though retained and maintained in the Samarāṅgaṇa-Sūtradhāra (a work of Eleventh Century A. D.), it has added some of the ornamentative features characteristic of the Medieval architecture of which it was the most representative, a detailed notice of which is taken in the Study proper (see Part V, Chapter X). The Maṇḍapas, as exhibited in the monuments, are not furnished with walls; the roofing is formed of large slabs of granite supported by monolethic pillars; but here in the Samarāṅgaṇa-Sūtradhāra the pillars are the main support, and roofing is excessively decorated as such with the predominent wooden motifs as well as different sets of mouldings characteristic of the ornamental Lāṭa Style. Again it may be pointed out that the author of Samarāṅgaṇa-Sūtradhāra (vide the former chapter) classifies all the Maṇḍapas under the broad divisions Saṁvṛta and Vivṛta or attached, i. e. enclosed and detached within temples proper.

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C-Jagatīs and Jagatī-prāsādas.

Linked texts (2)

Matsyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra — Bhoja, Sanskrit